


Day One: Buck and Chris + Anything

by firstdegreefangirl



Series: Christopher Diaz is a National Hero Week 2020 [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bookstores, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Families of Choice, Family, Family Fluff, Father Figures, Gen, face it: Buck is basically also chris's dad, who loves reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23778499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: Buck takes Chris to the mall. Turns out his buddy is a little bookworm.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Christopher Diaz is a National Hero Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712986
Comments: 14
Kudos: 187





	Day One: Buck and Chris + Anything

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Buck and I have the same favorite book from childhood

“Buck! Look, they have ALL the Captain Underpants books!” He hears Chris’s excited shout from the next aisle over and rounds the endcap to look at the shelf. 

“They sure do! How many of those you think you can read in a week?” Buck laughs, watching Chris ponder his question. 

“Probably like … five! Dad says I read really fast!” 

Christopher starts pulling books off of the shelf and handing them to Buck, who adds them to the ever-growing stack in his arms. 

“I’ve seen you sitting on the couch with a book, kiddo. He’s right; those pages are lightning-fast.” 

Buck looks over his shoulder, grateful to see that there’s only one shelf left they haven’t gone through. He’s taken Chris off of Eddie’s hands for an entire Saturday of adventures, letting his best friend catch up on housework and bills, and they wound up at the local mall. Where, naturally, the first place Chris dragged him after the food court was the bookstore. He supposes it’s more exciting than an afternoon browsing through racks of clothing, and if Christopher keeps picking hardbacks like he has been, then it’ll count for a good arm workout too. 

By the time he steers Christopher over to a table in the coffee shop, Buck has 37 books in the stack. He knows, because Chris counted them as he carefully slid the tower from his arms to rest on the table. 

“Alright, well how about you start sorting them out while I grab us a couple of cocoas, and we’ll go through the rest together?” 

He nods, already pulling the books down into smaller stacks as Buck walks away. When Buck returns, holding two paper cups, the tabletop is covered in little piles. 

“That’s a lot of progress, man.” Buck laughs, sitting down across from his smaller counterpart. “You really think you can read that much?” 

“Well, maybe not all at once.” Christopher sips his cocoa, looking so serious that he reminds Buck of a haggard businessman, trying to organize the next great corporate merger. 

“Hey, don’t think too hard about it. You read fast, but I don’t think you read this fast. How about you narrow it down to two books today, and I’ll pick one out for you too, as a surprise?” He watches Christopher’s face fall just a little bit. “Besides, if we buy them all today, then we won’t have an excuse to come back another time.” 

“Yeah! That’s right, we can come back!” He perks right back up and starts rummaging through the stacks. “All of these ones have animals in them, but I have lots of animal books already. And I just started reading these books – they’re about a boy whose name is _Fudge_!” Christopher looks up and laughs at the exaggerated confusion on Buck’s face. 

“He’s named Fudge? That’s a strange name.” 

“He’s a strange kid.” Christopher shrugs. “You can read one sometime, Bucky; you’ll see.” 

“I might have to do that.” 

“I for sure want the new Captain Underpants book.” He pulls a book from the middle of a stack and hands it to Buck. “See? This time they have to save the school from Sir Stinks-A-Lot! And … this one!” He waves the softback copy of _Lunch Money_ in the air. “The back says it’s about a boy who writes books. And I like to read books, so I’d probably like him.” 

“Yeah? I’ll bet you would.” Buck smiles and takes the second book. “Now how about we go put the rest of these back, then I’ll pick up your surprise? I’m thinking about one of my favorite books when I was your age. Think it’d be right up your alley; maybe we can read it together when I come over sometimes.” 

“Yeah!” Christopher helps stack the books back into one big pile for Buck to carry back to the children’s section. Together, they’re able to get every extra book reshelved, and Buck grabs one extra on his way to the cash register, carefully hiding it behind his back. 

“Buuuuuuuuck! What book is it?” Christopher tries to lean around him and see, but Buck turns to keep the book concealed. 

“It’s a surprise. Quit trying to peek, you’ll see when we start reading tonight!” He sidesteps Christopher and pays for all three titles. 

* * *

“Dad! Buck bought me three books!” They’ve no more than opened the front door when Christopher starts telling Eddie everything they’ve done today, the bookstore being the clear highlight. 

“Really? Let’s see them!” 

“I can only show you two. I don’t even know what the third one is yet, but Buck said it’s his favorite when he was in the fourth grade, and he’s going to start reading it to me _tonight_!” He takes the books Buck hands him and holds them out for Eddie. “Do you know his favorite book, Dad?” 

“Can’t say I do, kiddo. But maybe, if you ask him _really nicely_ , Buck will read the first chapter to us both while I get dinner on the table.” 

“Please, Buck? Will you? Can we start reading right now?” Christopher makes his best puppy-dog eyes, which are undercut a little bit by the smile on his face. 

It’s a good thing Buck’s never been able to deny him anything. 

“Sure, we can start now. How about we go sit in the kitchen so your dad can hear too? I think he’ll like this one.” 

“What is it?” Chris clambers into the kitchen, dropping gracelessly into his chair. 

“It’s called _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_.” It’s about a brother and sister who run away from home to live in a big art museum. Maddie read it to me when I was about your age, and we would talk about which museums we’d want to go live in.” 

“Dad! Can I live in a museum?” 

Eddie laughs. 

“I don’t think so, but we can go visit one sometime.” 

Christopher cheers as Buck opens the front cover. 

“Ready?” When Chris nods and ‘zips his lips,’ Buck starts reading. 

“Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away …" 


End file.
